Description

A sharp, hilarious, and perfectly observed story of high school geeks falling in true love.
Sam Kinnison is a geek, and he's totally fine with that. He has his horror movies, his nerdy friends, World of Warcraft--and until Princess Leia turns up in his bedroom, worry about girls he won't.
Then Camilla Carter arrives on the scene. She's beautiful, friendly and completely irrelevant to his plan. Sam is determined to ignore her, except that Camilla has a plan of her own--and he seems to be a part of it! Sam believes that everything he needs to know he can learn from the movies. But perhaps he's been watching the wrong ones.
Author Melissa Keil will have readers falling in love with these relatable characters. Sam's exceptional voice gives a hilarious and painfully accurate take on high school life.show more

Review quote

"This charming story is like a modern YA-lit version of a John Hughes movie-funny, sweet, gentle, awkward, and filled with an endearing cast of odd ducks. Although there is a little teenage drinking in this book (the drinking age in Australia is 16), this title is safe and satisfying in its depictions of friendship and first love. A great choice for those who wish to end their summers with a lighthearted romantic comedy."show more

Rating details

5,329 ratings

3.98 out of 5 stars

5
33% (1,775)

4
40% (2,129)

3
21% (1,093)

2
5% (258)

1
1% (74)

Our customer reviews

So, apparently, this is a YA contemporary romance.
And as my surprise might indicate, though I read some of those (I suppose) I am not very familiar with the genre.
Still, however I look at it I can only come to a few conclusions-
Objectively this is a good book, a great book even, unbojectively this is a book that leaves awesomeness behind
So yeah, I'm in love with this book. From here now it is my comfort read, a book I can read over and over again, just like listening to favorite song that you'll never get tired off. Have I got your attention yet? If not you shall know that for the first time in my life I feel like screaming off the rooftops and recommend this book to each and every person I know (even those who pass by me on the street and I never saw before nor will I ever see again).
This book is a mythical creature never heard of beforeÃ??Ã??Ã??Ã?Â¢Ã¢?Â¬Ã??Ã¢??Ã??Ã?Â¦I should probably stop now, before I find myself raving so much that your expectations would be too high (though I think the book can handle thatÃ??Ã??Ã??Ã?Â¢Ã¢?Â¬Ã??Ã¢??Ã??Ã?Â¦*facepalm* I just can't stop myself)
If what you read so far didn't clue you, I will warn you now. I love this book so much I want to give it more than five stars, I love this book so much that I am well aware that this is not going to be a review- I will try to control myself the best I can- this is me attempting to review a beloved favorite book, and we all know how hard that is. How almost impossible that is. But I'll try to fangirl in a modest rational way *snicker* because this book deserve the best review I could ever write to it (poor book, really).
So here we goÃ??Ã??Ã??Ã?Â¢Ã¢?Â¬Ã??Ã¢??Ã??Ã?Â¦
Once upon a time I logged into GoodReads and saw my friends raving about this book, and I decided to read it.
And then, I finally read it, and the book and I started out okay-
he looked at me in suspicion and I looked at it skeptically
"you can't be that good," I said. "Cory said you are a unicorn puking a rainbow on the rest of the YA contemporary books, That's not possible!"
The book just snickered at me and introduced me to Sam, who pulled The List of Five Most Awesome Prom Scenes in Movies Ever.
"Okay," I said. "That is a good start, but you didn't win me just yet."
Unfazed the book introduced me to Camilla- a british, cool girl with tattoo of a butterfly and vintage clothing whose dad is a music reviewer. The new girl in school that does what she want, and what she want is to be friends both with the misfits and the most popular kids in school. She just didn't care about social roles!
"That's not going to work," I said.
So the book smiled and patted my head like you do to a stubborn kid.
Then Camilla managed to befriend Sam and his friends ( a bunch of good kids!)
"Still," I said. "This is supposed to be a nerdy book, and even if I was in the nerds' protection program, I'm doubtful I can relate."
The book just handed me a highlighter and said "read! Stop talking just read!"
So I read.
I saw the situation is Sam's house, and plenty of good movies were mentioned, I saw how the friendship between Camilla and Sam developed realistically, I heard Camilla sing and Sam plays guitar, I was with them in the funny moments and the bitter ones and I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and I had tears in my eyes. I saw how the situation with Mike got out of control and Sam being heroic, I saw how everyone got along. I swooned in each and every sweet moment between Camilla and Sam, and even when things hurt a little it was never that bad, it was never melodramatic.
Then the story ended in a satisfying tone that left me smiling from ear to ear and I the book came to sit beside me.
"Seems like you loved it," he said.
"No," I answered. "Loving does not begin to describe it. I loved so many parts of the book I highlighted lots of them, more than I ever had before in any book. Thank you, dear book, for allowing me to meet those great people- Sam, Camilla, Andre, Allison, Mike and Noah. Thank you for letting me read their story and be there with them. And thank you for being such a wonderful debut novel that now I can't wait to see what Melissa Keil writes next!"
Thus we parted as best friends for life, but not for long, just till next time, which I suppose will happen in a few weeks ;)
A copy was kindly provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Getting to read this book I really think I got the better part of the deal.show more

by sharon l

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